Home > Author > P.D. James
181 " That's one of the frustrations of this job. You meet people, question them, get intrigued by them, eliminate them from inquiries and never see them again. "
― P.D. James , A Certain Justice (Adam Dalgliesh, #10)
182 " To collect me. That is what we can so easily be made to feel at seventy-three; an object, not exactly precious but likely to be brittle, to be carefully collected, conscientiously cared for and as conscientiously returned. "
― P.D. James , Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales
183 " The essential self is fixed well before the thirteenth birthday. It may be influenced by experience but it is seldom changed. "
184 " In a word all the things of the body are as a river, and the things of the soul as a dream and a vapour; and life is a warfare and a pilgrim’s sojourn, and fame after death is only forgetfulness. "
― P.D. James , Original Sin (Adam Dalgliesh #9)
185 " Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, Nor the furious winter’s rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone and ta’en thy wages. "
186 " The world is a beautiful and terrible place. Deeds of horror are committed every minute and in the end those we love die. If the screams of all earth’s living creatures were one scream of pain, surely it would shake the stars. But we have love. It may seem a frail defence against the horrors of the world, but we must hold fast and believe in it, for it is all that we have. "
― P.D. James , The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh, #14)
187 " What it was he had chiefly gained: a fascination with the complexity of the intellectual bastions which men could construct to withstand the tides of disbelief. His own disbelief had remained unshaken. "
― P.D. James , Death in Holy Orders (Adam Dalgliesh, #11)
188 " The apparent suicide, the certified natural death, the brutal murder - there was a cord which connected them. Its strength might be tenuous and its path convoluted, but when he had traced it, it would lead him to the heart of the mystery. "
189 " When secrets are unspoken and unwritten they are lodged safely in the mind, but writing them down seems to let them loose and give them the power to spread like pollen on the air and enter into other minds. "
190 " Here was normality, sanity, a world she recognized and knew. This emotion, suspiciously like regret, at witnessing the violent destruction of Nightingale House was really too ridiculous "
― P.D. James , Shroud for a Nightingale (Adam Dalgliesh #4)
191 " He had rested the pistol on the bark between them and had mumbled at her through the bread and cheese. “How would you shoot yourself behind your right ear? Go on, Cordelia—show. "
― P.D. James , An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (Cordelia Gray, #1)
192 " It is always easy to question the judgement of others in matters of which we may be imperfectly informed. "
― P.D. James
193 " Why not stay in Cambridge for a week or so and let me show you the city? Sophie would let you have her spare room.’‘No thank you, Hugo. I have to get back to town.’There was nothing in town for her, but with Hugo there would be nothing in Cambridge for her either. "
194 " All Cambridge suicides were brilliant. But about this one there could be little doubt. Sir Ronald’s death would probably raise him to the status of genius. "
195 " Every time she opened that delicious mouth I was expecting her to illuminate life. I think I could have spent all my life just looking at her and waiting for the oracle. "
196 " I like to read the gravestones, like to know who people were and when they died and how long the women lived after they buried their men. It sets you wondering how they managed and whether they were lonely. "
― P.D. James , Trilogy of Death: Unsuitable Job For A Woman / Innocent Blood / The Skull Beneath the Skin
197 " Although most of my own work has been as a novelist, I have greatly enjoyed the challenge of the short story. Much has to be achieved with limited means. There is not spacefor long and detailed descriptions of place, but the setting must still come alivefor the reader. Characterisation is as important as in the novel, but the essentialsof a personality must be established with an economy of words. The plot must be strongbut not too complex, and the denouement, to which every sentence of the narrative should inexorably lead, must surprise the reader but not leave him feeling cheated. All should command the most ingenious element of the short story: the shock of surprise. The good short story is accordingly difficult to write well, but in this busy ageit can provide one of the most satisfactory reading experiences. "
― P.D. James , The Mistletoe Murder And Other Stories
198 " The police talked, not in whispers, but in confident normal voices unsubdued by death. They were professionals doing their job, working easily to the prescribed routine. They had been initiated into the mysteries of violent death; its victims held no awe for them. "
199 " (A murderer about their victim:)"He was an expert in vicarious death. I should like to have been there to see how he enjoyed the real thing. "
― P.D. James , Unnatural Causes (Adam Dalgliesh #3)
200 " Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell. "